February 25, 2014

Blitz: Beneath the Surface by Miranda Rae Carter

Adolescence hasn’t been fun for Liss Lawrence. And after a year in Vancouver, when she’s finally adjusted to her new situation, a freak car accident sends her life spinning out of control and crashing into the world of the malions, a hidden race silently helping humanity from secret enclaves underground.

Liss’s knowledge of the malions endangers her family when Jaredsons Securities takes an interest in her accident. Few know the men of Jaredsons Securities, an international intelligence company specializing in missing persons cases, are actually the Vykhars, ancient malion enemies whose true purpose is the eradication of the malion race. The Vykhars will stop at nothing to discover if Liss is connected with the malions, and if they do, they will exploit her.

Perhaps more dangerous still are Liss’s growing feelings for Rion, a strong-willed malion scarred by his encounters with Vykhars and carrying a secret that could destroy their relationship. But Liss has a secret and scars of her own, and Rion’s fiercely protective nature threatens to tear them back open.

Can this pair of unlikely lovers survive the dangers of the Vykhars? And can their love survive their own misconceptions?

As my door closed, I rolled onto my side and looked at the bag on the floor again. Rion had put himself, his entire family, and Abby, at risk for me, a complete stranger, and instead of feeling glad to be home, I felt horrible.

I took a deep breath and pushed myself up to sitting. It took every bristle of strength I had to get up to walk over to that bag of clothes; not just because of my sore muscles, but because they reminded me of him, and the problems I’d created when I insisted that he let me go.

I poured them onto the carpet, sat down beside them, and hugged them as tight as I could. I hadn’t even taken a second to think about what I was doing, it was automatic. I think I was craving some sort of comfort after everything that had happened this weekend, and holding those clothes was like holding onto the part of me I’d left behind. I pulled the clothes closer to my face, and took a deep breath in—they still smelled of him.

My heart began to pound.

Pine, leather, and that musty underground smell of his world had me roiling inside. It was so strong. I inhaled again, recalling the moment Rion had smiled at me. It wasn’t forced, we had actually connected, and when he carried me in his arms, I felt awkward, but safe…and so warm. I desperately wanted to feel that way again; I wanted to know everything was going to be all right again. And then I heard something crinkle.

I ripped open the pile of clothes and found the paper in the pocket of my jeans, and though the letters were difficult to decipher at first, I managed to read his messy, all-capitals chicken-scratch.

YOU WILL BE WATCHED CLOSELY. IF I SENSE ANY DANGER, I AM COMING FOR YOU.

778-995-8884

♣

I sat there staring at the words, confused, because he said that we couldn’t have any further contact. I read the note again and realized it was the vykhars he was warning me about.

I shoved everything back into the plastic bag and opened my closet door. Rion’s scent was all over the clothes, and I needed to find a safe place to store them. In a few months, when everything settled down, I’d put them into a donation bin.

I took out an old backpack, shoved the bag in and threw it to the back of my closet. When they were securely covered by three layers of last summer’s wardrobe, and I felt satisfied that they were hidden well enough, I slumped down on my bed. Even though I was completely exhausted, I couldn’t shut my mind off.

When I thought about Mom, I had no doubt that coming home was the right decision, but I had no idea how messed up my life would become. Everyone’s life had been put on hold this weekend because of me: my parents missed work and I’d worried them sick, Katherine cut all ties with me, I had driven the best doctor in B.C. into hiding, I still hadn’t faced police questioning, I was apparently going to be watched closely by these vykhars, and, oh yes, I still had to go back to school and face my peers.

Miranda Rae Carter has lived in British Columbia, Canada, her whole life, and is a self-proclaimed home-bug. She spends most of her time doing what she loves, and that is being a mom and wife--and trying to master the art of cooking. The rest of her time is divided between looking in mouths and writing. For more information on Miranda and her malion novels, visit her on her website, Facebook, Twitter and Goodreads.

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